Joe, No one is questioning the fact that there is something abnormal about the hiring and firing in our civil service. But the question is how much of that can be blamed on Jammeh. If by all means we remain neutral and objective, we should back Jammeh for trying to instill competence in the service. It is without a doubt that those who are mandated to run the affairs of our country are failing us. The economy is in shambles, unemployement is at a record high, and education is under-funded. So it is high time that the head of State start demanding performance as the only guarantee of job security. No one should keep their ministerial posts only because we want to reduce turnovers in our civil service. I think we are also missing a significant part of this debate. What if anything can we as Gambians do to reduce the over-reliance on the civil service. The gov't can only hire so many and fire so many. But the majority of Gambians don't even get to be hired much more be fired. So I pose this question to all the good-hearted Gambians on this list, what can be done to alleviate the unemployement in our dear land. Remember that we can only argue, fight, and debate over these issues but at the end of the day, we are all Gambians! Have a great day everybody, Abdoulie A. Jallow ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~